A Quarterly Publication from ContactPoint
Vol. 16, No. 1 Winter 2012
TheBulletin The Business Case for
In this issue
Career Development
The Business Case for Career Development
1
Special Report: Problem Managers Top List of Workplace Woes
4
Corporate Canada: Invite Them to Our Education Party 6 Sector Councils: Industry’s Voice on Human Resources and Skills Development Issues
7
Hot Links
7
Are You Curious? Lifelong Learning is Key to Career Development
8
Road Stories
10
Unstick that Stuck Client
14
Feature Interview with Dr. Mark Savickas
16
The Leap to Self-Employment 18 Career Pathways for Refugee Youth
19
The Forces and Shifts at Work: What’s the “So What” for You? 20 Introducing Career Centre Evaluation
20
Upcoming Events
22
What’s New
24
— by Dan King
If you’re not talking with your people about their careers, you can bet somebody else probably is.
waiting for the annual performance review to discuss employee career goals, you could well be headed for trouble.
In today’s workplace, your top performers are the very ones that are most marketable to the outside. They are poised to be prime targets for headhunters in this rebounding economy—and there will be plenty of organizations ready and willing to lure them away when the time is right. So if you’re
Not so long ago, the annual performance review could double as a career development discussion. Performance and career development were linked: if employees’ performed well, their careers grew through a series of promotions and salary increases. continued >> This
Issue
Career Development in the Workplace Too often the claim is that too many businesses are failing to provide employees with the career support they require. In a recent article in The Globe and Mail, a survey of over 1,000 employees across Canada showed that many feel trapped in their jobs and hope to escape in the new year. Why is this? Are organizations taking career development seriously? Effective career management can have a significant role to play in building organizational capability, as you will read in Dan King’s excellent article on The Business Case for Career Development.
Career development in today’s workplace is, of course, a shared responsibility. Bulletin contributor Eve Nedzewicz explores the importance of curiosity in a knowledge-based economy. Employers are eager to accept those with curious minds, who continue learning and upgrading their skills and competencies. We are also very pleased in this issue to bring you a feature interview with the globally renowned Dr. Mark Savickas, a keynote speaker at Cannexus12. What Dr. Savickas reminds us is that each of us has authority over our own lives and careers. Let’s continue the conversation. Join us on Twitter@CareersDev, LinkedIn, Facebook— and our Career Developer Google Group.
NatioNal Career DevelopmeNt CoNfereNCe
CERIC, the Canadian Education and Research Institute for Counselling, presents Cannexus12 — a bilingual National Career Development Conference promoting the exchange of information and exploration of innovative approaches in the areas of career counselling and career development. Over the course of Cannexus12, conference delegates will be involved in plenaries, keynote addresses, networking opportunities and training sessions, all designed to generate discussions for enhancing professional development, organizational productivity and client service effectiveness. Themes include: • Current & Future Trends in Careers
• Marginalized Client Populations
• Current Research, Theory & Methodology
• Aboriginal Career Issues
• Employment Programs
• Practical Applications & Innovations
Also, don’t miss our intensive pre-conference workshops with: Mark Savickas Ph.D., A Career Counselling Session Dr. Norman Amundson, Career Flow in Action Chris Kulbaba, The Social Media Toolkit
Learn from the best, lead the rest! Visit cannexus.ca for updates. You’ll also find a list of Supporting Organizations that qualify for a special discount. Register today! Regular 1-day registration
Regular 3-day registration
Regular
$250
$500
Member of Supporting Organization
$237
$475
Student
$225
$250
†
1-day registrations and group rates are also available †† Prices do not include HST
Excellent opportunities for Sponsors, Exhibitors and/or Advertisers. More details are available online at cannexus.ca.
Cannexus is presented by CERIC and supported by The Counselling Foundation of Canada with a broad network of Supporting Organizations.
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KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
MARK SAVICKAS Mark Savickas Ph.D. is professor of Behavioral Sciences at the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, Adjunct Professor of Counselor Education at Kent State University and Professor Extraordinaire at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. His 80 articles, 40 book chapters and 500 presentations to professional groups have dealt with vocational behaviour and career counselling. He is President of the Counseling Psychology Division in the International Association of Applied Psychology and has just completed 12 years as a member of the Board of Directors for the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance.
Award-winning Canadian playwright, executive producer, actor, creator and stand-up comedian, Trey Anthony has been in the entertainment industry for more than 15 years. Her play ‘da Kink in my Hair, which debuted at the Toronto Fringe Festival, has won four NAACP Awards and was named one of the top 10 plays in Canada’s theatrical history! Anthony also founded the Trey Anthony@One Centre in Toronto, a women-focused, creative wellness facility and regularly visits schools to inspire youth. She has recently been named a featured contributor/writer for the Toronto Star.
Michael Adams is a noted commentator on social values and social change in North America. The founding president of the Environics group of research and communications consulting companies, Michael’s bestselling book Fire and Ice: The United States, Canada, and the Myth of Converging Values won the Donner Prize for the best book on Canadian public policy in 2003. In his most recent book, Stayin’ Alive: How Canadian Baby Boomers Will Work, Play, and Find Meaning in the Second Half of Their Adult Lives (Penguin, November 2010), Michael reflects on the changes Baby Boomers have brought about in Canadian society.
The Business Case for Career Development << continued from cover
This model no longer works. Employees today are looking for more than simply an assessment of their work. Sure, you want to maximize their performance, but they are more interested in maximizing their careers—and these goals are not one and the same. A career development discussion differs from a performance review in that it focuses on the skills and abilities needed to achieve personal career goals in the future. A broad-ranging discussion has an unlimited timeframe—it can (and ideally should) occur ongoing several times throughout the year—and it is not tied to compensation.
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Compare this to a performance review which focuses on an employee’s past performance over a period of time, emphasizing results or accomplishments relative to specific job standards set by the organization. Most employees expect it to be tied to compensation—and it generally is. Years of restructuring, reengineering and rightsizing have caused people to take a more active role in managing their work futures. Managers, individual contributors and support staff alike face career decisions on a daily basis: Should I stay or leave? Change careers? Pursue new projects? And in a work environment where technical skills frequently supersede people skills, the answers are not quickly forthcoming. That’s why a focus on career development is so important today. To help protect human assets, organizations must provide the tools and resources employees need to manage their careers, to align individual visions of career success with strategic business goals and objectives. It’s not just a “nice” thing to do—it’s a business imperative. If you’re convinced your organization is ready for a career development initiative, here are five suggestions for getting started:
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Conduct a career development audit to assess career development needs and organizational climate—and identify any existing career development tools such as job postings, tuition reimbursement, competency profiles, training courses and other programs that may be marshaled into a focused approach. Develop a preliminary career development statement for the organization which addresses the needs, priorities and rationale for committing to a career development initiative. Convene a career development project team; comprising a diagonal cut through all levels of the organization, including representation from support staff, counsellors/professionals, managers/ directors, human resources and others, to fine-tune the career development statement, generate ideas and approaches for services, and assess organizational goals, timetables and budgets. Select components for the career development program looking at such possibilities as career management workshops, career workbooks, private professional consultation for employees, career coaching workshops for managers, career ambassadorships for informational interviews, success teams for peer coaching and support, mentoring, job shadowing/in-training, skills databases and online career coaching. Present introductory career development information sessions to provide an overview, answer questions, and communicate goals and objectives to all levels of the organization. Emphasize anticipated benefits, including improved person-job match, communication about career opportunities, larger talent inventory for special projects, and clarification of career options and resources.
If this is new territory for you, before you implement your program, try starting with a pilot group. This way you can build buy-in and offset any obstacles that may hamper your program’s success. But be prepared for questions that arise, like: “How can I find time to talk to people about their careers with everything else I have to do?” or “If I start talking to people about their careers, aren’t we encouraging them to leave?” You can counter with: “On the contrary, they’re more likely to leave if you don’t start talking about their careers—and by spending time now for informal career discussions, you’ll save the expense in time and dollars later to replace key talent.” When your top performers entertain a job offer from another company, they’re often fraught with anxiety and uncertainty about the decision. They need a supportive process to help them decide the best future course. But all too often, while the other company is wooing them with future possibilities— money, advancement, challenge—their own company remains silent. It’s this uncertainty about the future that often drives people away. Sometimes they just need a good reason to stay, but without a healthy organizational climate for discussing career issues, they’re not likely to find one!
Dan King is principal of Career Planning and Management, Inc., www.careerfirm.com, and co-founder of MeaningfulCareers.com. With over 25 years’ experience in the career development field, he supports individuals and organizations in planning and managing contemporary worklife and workplace issues. A frequent radio and TV guest, he is recognized as a Career Management Fellow (CMF) and Master Career Counselor (MCC).
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SPECIAL REPORT:
Problem Managers Top List of
Workplace Woes Satisfaction with Performance Management is Mixed — by Mario Gravelle
The CERIC survey probed Canadian workers’ general satisfaction with their employer’s performance management practices (i.e., feedback on performance, performance criteria, goal-setting, etc.). More than six in 10 say they are somewhat (48%) or very (16%) satisfied with them, with the remainder of Canadians reporting they are somewhat (21%) or very (12%) dissatisfied with their organization’s performance management practices. In general, satisfied and dissatisfied Canadians possess similar socio-demographic
characteristics, though workers in Atlantic Canada (77%) and Quebec (75%) are more likely to be satisfied than those in other provinces. As well, Canadians with household incomes of $150,000 or more are significantly more likely (34%) to say they are very satisfied with their employer’s performance management practices, likely reflecting their stronger satisfaction with their remuneration and reward. Notably, similar proportions of visible minority and non-visible minority Canadians say they are satisfied with their organization’s performance management practices.
The Canadian Education and Research Institute for Counselling (CERIC) has released findings of a survey
Satisfaction with organization performance management practices
conducted by Environics Research Group asking Canadians about their job satisfaction, their perceptions about their workplaces and performance management, and the tools and resources they turn to when looking for a job or building a career. This project is a follow-up to a benchmark initiative completed in 2007 that asked similar questions. This article is an excerpt from the 2011 survey report. For methodological information, please see the end of this article.
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Q.24 How satisfied are you with the performance management practices in your company or organization (i.e. feedback on performance, setting of goals, linking of goals to organizational goals, recognition and reward, etc)? Subsample: Those who are employed full-time or part-time.
Reasons for Dissatisfaction Why are Canadians dissatisfied with their employersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; performance management practices? When asked (unprompted, without response options offered), Canadians who are dissatisfied reported having issues with poor management and control (31%) and insufficient appreciation or recognition (26%). Others felt that their managers did not involve them in discussions or give appropriate feedback. Notably, few focused on compensation, suggesting that Canadians would be
more likely to respond to managerial or organizational changes that promote good management practices and greater feedback on performance than monetary solutions.
Mario Gravelle joined The Counselling Foundation of Canada in early 2011 as Learning and Innovation Analyst. His responsibilities include instituting and overseeing knowledge capture and knowledge transfer activities about projects that the foundation supports. Gravelle is a doctoral candidate in history at York University (B.A. from Concordia University and M.A. from the University of Ottawa).
Methodology Findings from the Environics Research Group survey were released in January 2011. A total of 1,202 Canadians aged 18 years or older provided their input to the online survey conducted between November 3 and 11, 2010. Age, gender and regional quotas were placed to ensure that this sample reflects the Canadian population. Data gathered can therefore be extrapolated to the full population with a reasonable degree of confidence, and permitting analysis by important subgroups. Furthermore, this sample size was chosen as it can provide meaningful and statistically reliable results for important segments of the population, whether this is by region, community size, household type or relevant demographic characteristics such as education level and family size.
Reasons why dissatisfied with organizational performance management
Q.25 Why? Subsample: Those who are employed full-time or part-time, and who are dissatisfied with the performance management practices of their company.
Read the full report, Online Survey on Public Perceptions about Career Development and the Workplace, on the CERIC website at www.ceric.ca, under Resources. contactpoint.ca 5
Corporate Canada: Invite Them to
Our Education Party — by Suzanne Tyson
Having presented at, attended or sponsored dozens of conferences related to higher education over the past three years in my role as President of Studentawards Inc., there seems to be one constituent consistently underrepresented, or outright absent from the proceedings— Corporate Canada. At these conferences, students are gnashing their teeth about the cost of getting an education (the tuition isn’t the problem for undergrads, it’s the high cost of living), their high debt loads and their lack of job prospects; government program administrators are pulling their hair out because they can’t seem to create awareness of all the money that is available to fund those in financial need, and educators are coming to terms with students who may be Digital Natives, but are Financial Naives (not to mention the product of the Helicopter Parent). But at these conferences, we’re all preaching to the choir—those in attendance are pre-disposed to the messages and we often come to the same frustrating (lack of ) conclusions. In each situation, Corporate Canada can help connect the dots, spread the message or potentially fund the solution—we need to invite them to the party. There are plenty of companies that have already “stepped up” to help in educating Canadian youth and are reaping the rewards with this next generation of customers and employees. Those that don’t step up will miss out in both the short and long term. For the most part, they don’t know what they are missing, so here’s my personal invitation to Corporate Canada:
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Corporate Canada, You Are Cordially Invited to Step Up to Help Students. Here’s How: >>
>>
>>
Fund them. Create a scholarship or contest with cash prizing that will help pay for school. Make it inclusive (15–25 year-olds, not just graduating high school or CEGEP students) and don’t feel it has to be based on marks or being super-human. All students need help, not just the brainiacs and those in financial need. They are your future customers and potential employees. Your support will do great things for your brand. Hire them. Not just in the summer, but throughout the year, from high school to grad school. Create meaningful positions with support from experienced managers where students can learn and make a contribution in whatever number of hours they have available. The payoff is a “warm” pool of future employees with experience and a personal relationship with the company. Interview once, hire twice (or three or four times). Pay them. Most students who are lucky enough to find summer work are only paid about a third of what it will cost them for one year of college or university. They have bills to pay and will have lots of debt after higher ed. There is no free lunch, so companies have to stop acting like working for them for free is a privilege. It makes students resentful …and if they find something that will cover their bills, they’re gone. For good. If there’s no budget for a salary, the money might be found in a recruiting or CSR fund and can be positioned as a scholarship or bursary.
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Get to them earlier. Almost every industry in Canada will experience labour shortages in the next decade. Get into the high schools and create relationships through awareness campaigns—they don’t have to be your kid to come to your company for a day. Sponsor a class to come to your office for a field trip in Grade 10. That’s when they start looking at career options and higher education paths. You will be welcomed with open arms by the guidance offices at the high schools. They need all the help they can get.
Helping students themselves is the first and most tangible step Corporate Canada can take. Once they’ve accepted the invitation to that party, getting them to the afterparty should be easy. Educating Canadians is everybody’s business, and for Corporate Canada, it is good for business.
Suzanne Tyson is President of Studentawards Inc. Suzanne has over 20 years of business experience in youth, loyalty and digital marketing, publishing, higher education consulting and mobile communications. As President of Studentawards Inc. (www. studentawardsinc.com), Suzanne has the pleasure of helping students succeed in their pursuit of higher education and at the same time, helping Canadian corporations access the hearts and minds of those students. Contact her at suzanne@studentawards.com.
Sector Councils: Industry’s Voice on Human Resources and Skills Development Issues — by Fiona Murray
Sector councils are industry-led partnership organizations that address skills development issues and implement labour market solutions in key sectors of the economy. Sector Councils bring together representatives from business, labour, education, governments and other professional groups to comprehensively address solutions across Canada. The Alliance of Sector Councils (TASC) is the network for more than 33 sector councils. TASC facilitates the sharing of best practices and collaboration on projects and research of collective interest. Several cross-cutting issues are affecting a number of councils including: Aboriginal engagement, immigrants and foreign credential recognition, career development, labour market information, liaison with education systems, workplace learning, and standards, certification and accreditation systems. A recently released series of Fact Sheets on skills development issues highlights the many different programs and resources that
have been developed by the councils. You can find all seven fact sheets at the TASC website (www.councils.org/resources-andpublications/fact-sheets) including topics such as: >>
Upskilling for the jobs of tomorrow
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Skills development for small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
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Credentials and integrating immigrants into the workforce.
As the funding arrangements with the federal government changes in the next 18 months, sector councils are going through
their own strategic planning. Stay tuned to see how these organizations evolve and renew in the months ahead—and be sure to add these information-rich websites to your “favourites!”
Fiona Murray, M.Ed. is the Director of Programs at The Alliance of Sector Councils (TASC). Current projects include the development of university-industry partnerships, employer supports for hiring and retaining internationally trained workers and a national project to facilitate partnership development between employers and the K-12 educators.
Hot Links CEDEFOP
Financial Services Career Advisor
Cedefop is the European Agency to promote the development of vocational education and training in the European Union, and shares its expertise through electronic and hard-copy publications, conferences and working groups. www.cedefop.europa.eu/en
This site provides users information about career options in the Toronto region’s financial services sector and the education, certification, skills and experience required for in-demand careers. www.explorefinancialservices.com
Hireimmigrants.ca Brazen Careerist
Advertise with us! print and online packages available 416.929.2510 x122 marketing@ceric.ca
Brazen is a U.S.-based career management site for young professionals. It includes career advice blogs, bootcamps and a cool app to create an infographic resume. www.BrazenCareerist.com
Canadian HR Reporter Canadian HR Reporter is the national journal of human resource management. Both in print and on the web, it offers news, trends and expert advice on HR issues. www.hrreporter.com
Supporting the recruitment, retention and promotion of skilled immigrants, this site has resources and tools to make your job easier. www.hireimmigrants.ca
Vanier Institute of the Family Research and publications on families in Canada and the challenges they face in their structural, demographic, economic, cultural and social diversity. www.vifamily.ca
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Are You Curious? Lifelong Learning is
Key to Career Development — by Eve M. Nedzewicz
Curiosity—from Latin curiosus that means careful, diligent or curious—is a disposition to learn, inquire and explore; it is inquisitiveness, a desire to gratify the mind with new information or objects of interest. NASA’s new Mars Rover Curiosity blasted off in a picture-perfect launch on Saturday, November 26, 2011 at 10:02 AM EST from Cape Canaveral, Florida and it is now zipping through space on its eight-and-a-half-month journey to the Red Planet. Curiosity will help to determine if life could have ever arisen on Mars, to characterize the climate and the geology of Mars, and to prepare for human exploration of Mars. Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, said, “Curiosity is the essence of human existence and exploration has been part of humankind for a long time. The
exploration of space, like the exploration of life, if you will, is a risk. We’ve got to be willing to take it.” If you are curious, you care about other people’s point of view, you can become humble and open to new ideas, you can create opportunities, you can adapt. A knowledge-based economy, technological explosion, advances in globalization and the changing nature of work and the labour market create the need for adults to keep renewing knowledge and skills throughout life. Lifelong learning (a concept popularized by UNESCO in the 1970s) is about progression and development for both employment and personal fulfillment—it helps to better adapt to change, increases wisdom and creates a curious mind. Curiosity is a factor in the desire for space exploration; curiosity
I keep six honest serving-men (They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When And How and Where and Who. — Rudyard Kipling
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is also a factor in “reaching for the stars” in career development. Career development is a big part of lifelong learning as we spend one third of our daytime, and more than 30 years of our lives, in working environments. Career development is a process of self-assessment, exploration, decision-making and implementation that continues throughout our working lives and beyond. Curiosity can be our radar/sonar system that can give us advance indication to improve and innovate. Employers are eager to accept those with curious minds, those who are open to look into possibilities, those who continue learning and upgrading their skills and competencies. In a new study published in Perspectives in Psychological Science, researchers analyzed the data from about 200 studies with a total of about 50,000 students and concluded that curiosity did, indeed, have a positive influence on academic performance. Von Stumm, the co-author of the study, says, “Curiosity is basically a hunger for exploration. If you’re intellectually curious, you’ll go home, you’ll read the books. If you’re perceptually curious, you might go traveling to foreign countries and try different foods.” A curious person who likes to read, travel and explore the world may equally enjoy and pursue acquiring new skills on the job. “It’s easy to hire someone who has done the job before and hence, knows how to work the role,” von Stumm says, “But it’s far more interesting to identify those people who have the greatest potential for development, i.e. the curious ones.”
Connection to Modern Career Development Theories “Career curiosity refers to inquisitiveness about and exploration of the fit between self and the work world. When acted on, curiosity produces a fund of knowledge with which to make choices that fit self to situation. Systematic exploration and reflection on random exploratory experiences move individuals from naive to knowledgeable as they learn how the world works. Attitudes of inquisitiveness dispose individuals to scan the environment to learn more about self and situations.” – An excerpt from the career construction theory (Savickas, 2005). Career curiosity is explained in the construct of career adaptability, which describes how an individual copes with current work demands, deals with occupational transitions, and manages developmental tasks as a result of global economic changes and technological advances. Career curiosity is a dimension which allows an individual to learn, explore and experiment with new possibilities, to take risks, to challenge the status quo. It is helpful in gathering ideas for improvement that can lead to self-exploration, motivation for change and goal setting for future career scenarios. The importance of exercising curiosity to explore and transform unplanned events into new learning opportunities is stressed in planned happenstance theory (Mitchell, Levin and Krumboltz, 1999). Planned happenstance lists curiosity as one of the necessary skills for effective career exploration. Curiosity means openmindedness and seizing the opportunities in life, for example engaging in various activities, such as sports, arts and volunteer work. These activities require social interaction and allow for chance events
which do not happen in isolation from social engagement. Curiosity involves expanding your network of contacts and learning from everyone you connect with and meet in your path. The emphasis is on learning, gaining new capabilities and interests, thus preparing for changing and unstable work environments. How is your curiosity excited? How can you create future beneficial unplanned events? Are you ready for serendipity? REF ERENC E S Canterucci J. (2005). Personal Brilliance: Mastering the Everyday Habits That Create a Lifetime of Success. AMACOM. Katz L.C., Rubin M. (1998). Keep Your Brain Alive. Workman Publishing Company. Kipling R. (1902). The Elephant’s Child. Just So Stories.
Mitchell, K.E., Levin, A.S., Krumboltz, J.D. (1999). Planned Happenstance: Constructing Unexpected Career Opportunities. Journal of Counseling & Development, Vol.77, pp. 115-124. Savickas, M.L. (2005). The Theory and Practice of Career Construction. Career Development and Counseling: Putting Theory and Research to Work, pp. 42-70. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. von Stumm S., Hell B., Chamorro-Premuzic T. (2011). The Hungry Mind: Intellectual Curiosity Is the Third Pillar of Academic Performance. Perspectives on Psychological Science, Vol. 6(6), pp. 574-588.
Eve M. Nedzewicz graduated from the Career and Work Counsellor Program at George Brown College in December 2011. She is an experienced IT Project Leader and Senior Systems Analyst. Her education also includes MSc studies in Forestry. Eve completed two practicum placements at ContactPoint, CERIC’s multi-sector online community for professionals in the career development field.
Tips to Heighten Curiosity 1. Keep an open mind/Explore. “Dig deeper beneath the surface”; investigate the origin and purpose of what is around you; browse etymology of words and phrases 2. Look beyond the obvious. Put a question mark on the obvious and search for a different point of view that disproves the common truth 3. Evoke new senses/Try new things. Taste a new fruit; learn a new dance move; read an article on an unfamiliar topic; listen to different music 4. Introduce novelty in daily routine. Shift your tooth-brushing hand; take a different route home; switch places at the table 5. Ask questions/Challenge your mind. Who, what, when, where, why and how are the best friends of curious people
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Road Stories
Over the past nearly two years CERIC has travelled from coast to coast meeting with stakeholders from the career practitioner community as well as provincial government officials. Throughout our “Road Shows”, we have encountered a passionate group of professionals dedicated to supporting Canadians in their career development. In addition to informing participants about CERIC’s role in advancing education and research in the field, we have sought to engage our audiences in dialogue. We want to better understand how we can equip career practitioners with the tools they need to do their work. What follows are their voices on the challenges they face and successes they’ve found in their organizations, their sectors and their communities.
France Bélanger-Houle Manager, Options Emploi Collège Boréal Sudbury, ON
Options Emploi, a division of Collège Boréal, has a specific mandate in the Sudbury community: to provide employment services to francophone job-seekers and assist employers with the recruitment of employees who meet their specific needs. The challenges are diverse, but the most important one is finding and retaining qualified bilingual staff to work in career and employment services. We seek competent individuals who have formal training in social services with an expertise in the employment field. We have, however, achieved some success by recruiting graduates from our Social Services program, while offering additional training to develop the required skills in employment and career coaching. Craig Mackie Executive Director PEI Association for Newcomers to Canada Charlottetown, PEI
Prince Edward Island has been experiencing an unprecedented influx of immigrant entrepreneurs over the past couple of years; the direct result of the province actively recruiting through the Provincial Nominee Program. All newcomers face three challenges when they arrive in Canada. First, they have to gain a functional ability in either English or French. Once they have that established, the second challenge is to either find employment or open their own business. This will give them an ability to stay in the province, but what will keep them around
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for a long time is if they feel socially included in their new home. Having a solid business mentorship program on PEI would mean that newcomer business people would be helped in their first foray into Canadian business and they would begin developing a social as well as a business network. The Greater Charlottetown Area Chamber of Commerce has recently started a Connector program for newcomer business people. This is a good beginning to helping newly arrived immigrants stay longer. Tami Anderson President Best Foot Forward Consulting Inc. Calgary, AB
When a company creates a staff that is the essence of their organization, they succeed in their core business. Successful employers provide diversity, career development, including advancement, and direction with constructive feedback for their employees. Communications are open, honest, respectful and inclusive. Career practitioners have historically helped people get jobs and build careers. Maybe we need to work with both sides of the partnership—the employer and the employee. We can help companies invest in their staff. And, we can teach employees the skills to be retainable. The goal? Success—right from the point of hire. Pass on what you know to those on the hiring side. Perhaps you’d even consider inviting those executives to the Cannexus conference.
Jan Bottomer Music and Arts Career Advisor, McGill University Career Planning Service (CaPS) Montreal, QC
Engaging students in career exploration and planning as early as possible prior to graduation is an ongoing challenge for those of us who work in post-secondary environments. The closer students are to graduation, the more overwhelming and stressful the whole process of becoming educated about careers and searching for jobs often feels, and the harder it can be to get motivated. However, once students do pay a visit to career services and learn about the information, resources and support available, their confidence tends to rise and anxiety levels drop. Thus, the earlier we can engage students and encourage them to become “career literate,” the better! At CaPS we find that students who make use of our services tend to have a greater understanding of job market realities and job search strategies, to feel more comfortable with networking and to be more proactive in their search. Even if they still don’t know exactly what they want to do, their enhanced knowledge and understanding is empowering and makes the whole process much less scary, and much more positive. Beatrice Traub-Werner Director of Education TAPE Educational Services Toronto, ON
Career counsellors focus on aptitude, interest, skills and personality as the elements of the internal psychology of a candidate to link to and match these characteristics to employability and a
course of study. In the current economy, this match can become a challenge. Magnify it a thousand fold if your client struggles with mental illness, as unemployment is both cause and effect, and poverty a given for most in this vulnerable population. “Gaps” in resumes need to be explained; stigma all too often prevails over equitable access. What was once a match may no longer be possible; an entirely new, different approach to the world of work is needed. Don McAskill Assistant Superintendent, Senior Years and Career Programs, Frontier School Division Winnipeg, MB
For many, moving from rural Manitoba to a larger centre such as Winnipeg is necessary for education and employment. The transition is difficult and many return home disillusioned. The good news is that there is support through a number of agencies that are dedicated to assisting people coming to an urban centre. A great resource is Partners for Careers. Its core mandate is to offer job placement assistance to Aboriginal job-seekers looking for employment, training or continuing education throughout Manitoba. It also operates a “signpost” of services for both Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals trying to make the transition to Winnipeg. A valuable resource they have created is Guide to Winnipeg for Aboriginal Newcomers and is available free of charge. This guide will help connect them to the larger community. Check out their website at www.partnersforcareers.mb.ca.
Naomi Fowlie Vice President Integration Resources Canada Inc. (IRCI) Ottawa, ON
Employers are challenged to hire top talent. Meanwhile, highly skilled, experienced, Internationally Educated Professionals (IEPs) are under or unemployed. How to bridge this gap? Many IEPs have never thought in terms of career choices and personal balance. Nor have they experienced the myriad of management styles seen in Canada. Setting up a meeting for career research with a professional in the same field may be seen by the IEP as asking for a favour as opposed to merely help in answering questions. During a job interview, often IEPs downplay their skills as they perceive it as bragging as opposed to merely stating facts and presenting ideas to an employer. As career professionals, by discussing these distinctions with IEPs, we can help them land their dream job—a position that matches the needs of the employer. Brent Wellman Director, Edwards Career Services and the Cameco Business Co-operative Education Program University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon, SK
Over my past 23 years of working with experiential education, I continue to be amazed by the type and quality of work our undergraduates have performed and the contribution of each of those students as they return to university to complete their degree. The confidence and the level of knowledge they gain through co-operative education provides a wealth of experience contactpoint.ca 11
Road Stories 3continued from previous page
to apply in the classroom and into their career aspirations. Graduates who have participated in the experiential learning programs continue to lead the way with full-time employment ahead of those who did not participate. Just as I finished writing this, one of our professors stopped by to give a thumbs up to what we were doing with the Co-op program. The professor has a number of students in the current class who have returned from their co-op experience and have stood out from the rest of their classmates with their attitude, their ability to lead a discussion and their overall maturity.
Donna McAllister Executive Director Durham Region Employment Network Oshawa, ON
Age has long been a barrier to employment although most equate the challenges to the inexperienced young. However, recent economic events have left many older workers displaced from workplaces in which they have built their careers. Over 55, they are considered to be too expensive to employ and/or have out-dated credentials, education and skills. Many have not job searched, developed a resume or had an interview in years, if not in decades. In Durham Region, hit hard in the economic downturn, older workers are challenging career counsellors to build on experience. A timely subject indeed with Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s aging workplace demographics.
Alastair MacFadden Manager of Service Delivery Canada-Saskatchewan Career and Employment Services Regina, SK
Job-seekers with disabilities face added challenges in a rural community, where there can be few mentors and support services can be scarce. Many career counsellors recognize that living with a disability can impart character and resilience, and make for exceptionally determined and dedicated employees. The difficulty comes in finding employers who recognize that same potential. Strong job matching support is especially valuable in rural communities because these services connect the worker with: (a) a job that fits their career vision, and (b) a supportive work environment that values their contribution. In rural communities, supportive workplace relationships take the place of the formal job coaching, transportation services and other supports you find in an urban centre. Leo Leclair Specialist High Skills Major Program Coordinator Rainbow District School Board, Sudbury, ON
Figure 1. Map charting stops between March 2010 to December 2011. For more information on future dates, please visit www.ceric.ca. 12 The Bulletin
When you grow up in a mining town itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not hard to figure out what you need to do to get a job. For generations you were always considered employable if you were brave and strong enough to grab a pick and shovel and head down the hole. Well those days are gone and so are those jobs. A local mining company once employed over 10,000 miners and support staff. Today it only employees 3,900 and produces the same if not more output than ever before. Taken from a recent posting, an example of
today’s knowledge and skills required to be a miner consist of: >> >> >> >> >> >> >>
Maclean Bolter experience Jumbo Drilling experience Jackleg and Stoper Scoop tram (heavy equipment) Blasting Experience in ITH Underground Construction / Shotcrete
Most of the jobs posted by mines today include the word “Engineer” at the end. When speaking to the 21st century generation, parents and career counsellors need to focus more on the ever-growing mining service and technological sector. Mining companies are no longer the major employer, unless you are one of the many businesses being hired as contractors. Phil Jarvis Executive Vice President for Global Partnerships, Career Cruising Memramcook, NB
A “perfect talent storm” is on the horizon. Many Canadians are looking for jobs. Paradoxically, even more jobs are looking for people. This imbalance will grow in coming decades and should signal a “buyers market” for job seekers. But the jobs looking for people don’t want many of the people looking for jobs. They lack 21st century skills employers now demand. These include higher ICT and STEM proficiency, combined with strong “soft skills” like communications and teamwork in diverse groups, a thirst for learning and innovation, and solid character traits like dependability, responsibility, initiative, integrity and perseverance. Communities wishing economic prosperity, despite the storm, must ensure their citizens develop 21st century skills and help them locate good 21st century jobs.
Tony Botelho Manager, Career Services & Volunteer Services Simon Fraser University Burnaby, BC
Generation 1.5 students are those who have moved to Canada in order to obtain a Canadian high school credential. Some arrive as pre-teens, others arrive for their final year of grade 12. They are not identified as international applicants by post-secondary institutions, meaning they will not likely have to provide evidence of language proficiency. It also means they are harder to identify and track. Though a diverse group, many of these students feel considerable pressure from family members to perform well academically. Many of these same family members also feel that completion of the degree is the key to future success and thus do not place value on work experiences or other co-curricular activities that might extend their schooling. For career educators, these students are best supported by providing information that helps them with their continued understanding of Canadian workplace culture, and also gives them to tools to share these new insights with family members. However, this information should also be provided in ways that allow students to make sense of the conflicting information they’ve been receiving, and to construct it in ways that are meaningful to them.
David Gwilliam Supervisor, Recruitment SaskPower Regina, SK
Recruiting today requires you to promote your company and jobs where the people are—and today that is the world of social media. Facebook has almost 800 million members, LinkedIn has almost 140 million and Twitter almost 200 million. Almost half of all Canadians are on Facebook. SaskPower has used social media for recruitment for a number of years. We have an online presence in the big three social media tools through a Facebook page, a LinkedIn page and a Twitter page. The key to these tools is candidate searching and interaction. Social media allows you to find groups and individuals and interact with them to start conversations about working with you. Also, when candidates want to ask questions at career fairs we direct them to our social media sites to have conversations with any member of our recruitment team. With its minimal cost and ease of use, I expect social media will become the preferred tool for finding candidates in the near future.
contactpoint.ca 13
Unstick that
Stuck Client — by Roxanne Sawatzky
There may be a variety of reasons as to why you have been drawn into the field of career development. Maybe, a desire to see people lead better lives, perhaps you have an uncanny ability to match people with the right job or possibly you love the challenge of creating dynamic resumes! That being said, often the passion to help others find meaningful employment is slowly being replaced with the pressure to get the “numbers”. There is a colossal demand on career practitioners to help clients who have been identified as employable find meaningful employment. It is probable that you interact with “stuck” individuals at some point during your work or personal life. By “stuck”, I mean people who talk about making a change in their lives; they may say something like “I want to find employment, but...” Picture the scales of justice; there is an equal amount of weight on each side, the pros and cons of changing on opposite sides, thus making the process of choosing to complete the change very difficult. They do not move forward or back, they are ambivalent about making that needed change. They are being pulled in two directions. While they
may say they want to be employed and independent, they may also have just as many good reasons why they want to keep everything the same in their lives.
understanding practitioners unconsciously move clients further into ambivalence instead of exploring and resolving the client’s ambivalence.
When the client says “I want to get a job, but...” followed by a list of reasons why they can’t find employment. The practitioner may then ask for clarification and enquire if this is a good time for the client to seek employment the client responds with a passionate “yes” or “I have to”. The practitioner hearing the client’s need for change moves into action planning, which results in the exact opposite reaction. The client starts to argue for the other side, not working; often confusing the practitioner and leaving the client feeling hopeless, frustrated or more stuck. I have heard clients say, “I don’t know why I was saying I couldn’t work because I want to and need to find a job, but talking with that practitioner made me feel like I had to argue for not working.”
Motivational Interviewing is a model used to effectively explore and resolve ambivalence. It is a model new to the employment field, with three years of research completed in 2010 and over 1,000 career practitioners trained across Canada. We are seeing “stuck” clients fulfil their goal of seeking and maintaining employment and career practitioners successfully work with “stuck” clients while meeting their employment “numbers”.
Confusing for everyone, welcome to ambivalence. Understanding the concept of ambivalence is critical for career practitioners.Without this
Hear Roxanne Sawatzky present Unstick that Stuck Client! on January 23, 2012 at 10:30 AM at Cannexus. Plus, sign up for her new webinars with CERIC on Motivational Interviewing, starting February 27.
14 The Bulletin
Motivational Interviewing is a directive, client-centered counselling style that enhances motivation for change by helping the client clarify and resolve ambivalence about behaviour change. MI is an empirically-supported treatment approach developed by Miller and Rollnick (1991, 2002), which helps individuals resolve ambivalence about change and draw on internal strengths and resources to assist in this process. MI recognizes that individuals pressured to change often become resistant. In contrast, creating safe conditions increases the likelihood individuals will explore and resolve problematic patterns of behaviour. The primary goals of MI are as follows: Minimize resistance 2. Create and amplify, from the client’s perspective, a discrepancy between present behaviour and his or her broader goals and values 3. Explore and resolve ambivalence 4. Elicit “change talk” Motivational Interviewing assists an individual through Stages of Change (SOC). The idea behind the SOC is that 1.
behaviour change does not happen in one step. Rather, people tend to progress through the different stages on their way to successful change. Each of us progresses through the stages at our own rate. The Stages of Change are: Pre-contemplation, Contemplation, Preparation, Action, Maintenance, Recycling and Termination. Expecting behaviour change by simply telling someone, for example, who is still in the “pre-contemplation” stage that he or she must find employment in a certain time period is rather naive (and perhaps
counterproductive) because they are not ready to change. Each person must decide for himself or herself when a stage is completed and when it is time to move on to the next stage. Moreover, this decision must come from within. Stable long-term change cannot be externally imposed.
Empowering Change is changing employment and social service provider thinking and practice by increasing effective, short-term motivational service delivery methods across Canada through Stages of Change and Motivational Interviewing training. For more information, visit www.empoweringchange.ca.
Roxanne Sawatzky is President and Founder of Empowering Change Inc. (ECI). ECI is a leading organization empowering innovative service providers to enhance existing interactions with multi-barriered individuals.
Graduate Student Engagement Program CERIC encourages the engagement of Canada’s full-time graduate students whose academic focus is in career development or related fields. Faculty members are asked to help identify appropriate graduate students. Through this program, graduate students will be introduced to CERIC and invited to: • Compete for the CERIC Graduate Student Program Award, which provides funding to attend and present at the Cannexus conference; • Join one of CERIC’s committees (one graduate student per year);
ceric.ca 18 Spadina Road, Suite 200 Toronto, ON MSR 257 | 416.929.2510
• Write articles for ContactPoint / OrientAction or The Canadian Journal of Career Development; • Participate in a contest held in alternate years for CERIC to publish a relevant thesis; • Connect with other graduate students through the GSEP Network, a dedicated LinkedIn group. For more information, contact admin@ceric.ca or visit ceric.ca.
contactpoint.ca 15
Feature Interview with
Dr. Mark Savickas — by Tami Anderson
What a privilege speaking with Dr. Mark Savickas about his book and philosophy on career constructing! Dr. Savickas prefers to refer to his work as Life Designing, Identity Creating or Self Making with career construction as a part of the design.
Mark Savickas, Ph.D., is professor of Behavioral Sciences at the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, Adjunct Professor of Counselor Education at Kent State University and Professor Extraordinaire at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. His 80 articles, 40 book chapters and 500 presentations to professional groups have dealt with vocational behaviour and career counselling.
TA: Mark, could you tell us a bit about writing your book, Career Counseling? MS: I had originally done a DVD demonstration on career counselling for the American Psychological Association. It sold so well, they asked me to do another and followed that up with a request for the book. TA: How does this topic fit into the Theories of Psychotherapy Series? MS: Counselling focuses on the uniqueness of the individual; how they are the only one of them in the whole world. The focus of career counselling is not how you fit into your work; but, how you are going to fit work into your life so you become more whole and more complete. TA: Can career practitioners use your materials, or is it designed strictly for psychotherapists?
MS: I think it is for everybody who loves career counselling. The goal is to provide training in career counselling for the 21st century. Relationships now take center stage; the stage that was held for a hundred years by work. TA: Would you say, Mark, this approach to career planning is more holistic? MS: Holistic—in a sense, yes. I’ve written a paper recently called, Life Designing, A Paradigm for 21st Century Counseling. Career construction would be a part of life designing, but life designing also includes
Catch Mark Savickas’ keynote address of The Career Counsellor’s Career: From Preoccupation to Occupation January 24, 2012 at 8:30 AM.
16 The Bulletin
views on relationships, partnerships, commitments to family and to faith community. Each person now is responsible for getting a life and actually designing it. So, we can study about emerging adulthood in our psychology books or we can watch “Friends.” What career constructing does is help people listen to the answers they already have inside themselves and to reinforce the authority they have over their own life. TA: Is there a place for all career aspects? MS: I believe strongly in career services. Career guidance is one. Career education is another. Coaching is another. Academic advising is another. Placement’s another. Entering is another. Career counselling is another. Everybody doesn’t have to do everything. Every career practitioner can pick one or two of those and have a good, meaningful career. TA: What does the statement, “We actively master what we passively suffer” mean? MS: It’s the most important thing I know. I believe each of us, early in life, in our family, there’s something painful. What we do in life is try to heal that hole in our heart. So, if what upset us in the beginning is fear; the
resolution, or strength, that person must develop is courage and bravery. We go from the passive suffering of fear to the active mastery of bravery. I’m looking for the pain. And, then work. Counselling is about how you are going to use work to heal yourself. TA: Was there a moment you knew this would be the right career for you based on your story? MS: Well, there’s two parts—the pain and the solution. The pain was being a little boy with a father
who had one leg a couple of inches shorter than the other. He was strong, quick and could do everything, but no employer would give him a good job because he was handicapped. And then—I’m passionate about my profession because every day I’m honouring my father and helping people like my father. This illustrates “actively master what you passively suffer”: Mark, the big boy, works on career counselling to heal the pain of Mark, the little boy, watching a father not able to get work.
TA: Thank you, Mark for your time, insight and passion.
Tami Anderson sits on CERIC’s Editorial Committee. She’s from the private sector in Alberta and the owner of Best Foot Forward Consulting.
Listen to an audio recording of the full interview with Dr. Savickas at www.contactpoint.ca.
Celebrating our 10th Anniversary! Special edition coming January 2012 Watch for a special commemorative book, “A Multi-Sectoral Approach to Career Development: A Decade of Canadian Research,” in celebration of The Canadian Journal of Career Development 10th anniversary. The book is a compilation of some of the most thought-provoking and ground-breaking articles to appear in the CJCD over the last 10 years. Book launch at Cannexus12. All delegates receive a free copy! Will also be available online.
cjcdonline.ca contactpoint.ca 17
The Leap
TO Self-Employment â&#x20AC;&#x201D; by Miranda Vande Kuyt
Understanding self-employment is more important than ever. Over 2.5 million Canadians are self-employed, making up over 15% of the Canadian workforce1 and the number keeps growing. As large as those numbers are, very few career practitioners understand what it takes to be successfully self-employed. Most career practitioners work within governmentfunded programs,2 and for many, self-employment is not on their radar, for themselves or their clients. However, we live in transformational times where job security is shaky at best. Self-employment is a very real option that should be considered by everyone facing a career transition. That is not to say that self-employment is the right option for everyone; characteristics such as knowledge and skills are important, as is the right attitude (e.g., passion, drive, vision) and proper preparation. People enter self-employment for many different reasons. Some are facing lay-offs due to organizational restructuring, others are looking to supplement their current income, and still others are looking for
more flexible work options that will support their changing lifestyle (e.g., young parents who want to stay home with their children or those nearing retirement who are interested in transitioning to something less demanding but still meaningful). Career practitioners are encouraged to have self-employment knowledge and skills to support clients interested in self-employment, but may also wish to explore self-employment as a viable option for themselves. Career practitioners can offer services as self-employed contractors (e.g., facilitating workplace-based career development workshops, developing programs, supporting team-strengthening initiatives and providing outplacement support for organizations laying off some of their workforce). Career practitioners may also help organizations equip their self-employed contractors by offering workshops or coaching on self-employment tips and strategies. To help career practitioners better understand the realities of self employment, Life Strategies, with generous funding support from CERIC, created the Look
Self-employment is a very real option that should be considered
by everyone facing a career transition. 18 The Bulletin
Before You Leap: Self-Employment Survival Strategies suite of tools and resources to educate career practitioners including a two-week course and workbook that introduces 10 strategies that contribute to self-employment success; a dedicated Leap website (www.leap.lifestrategies.ca), blog (http://lookbeforeyouleap-selfemployment. blogspot.com), and Twitter feed (@lookb4leaping) provide regular updates on tips, articles and events to help the self-employed. All career practitioners will benefit from understanding what it takes to become successfully self-employedâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;not only for themselves, but for their clients as well. Self-employment may be the answer career practitioners and clients are looking for as they plan next stages on their career/ life journeys. R E FE R E NCE S 1. Industry Canada Key Small Business Statistics July 2011. http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/sbrp-rppe.nsf/eng/rd02610.html 2. Pan Canadian Mapping Study of the Career Development Sector. http://www.ccdf.ca/ccdf/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/ PAN-CANADIAN-MAPPING-STUDY-OF-THE-CAREERDEVELOPMENT-SECTOR.pdf
Miranda Vande Kuyt is the facilitator of the Look Before You Leap e-learning course and contributor to the Look Before You Leap blog. She is a self-employed consultant offering services to the career development field in website/social media development and management, project development and freelance writing. You can reach her through her website at http:// mirandavandekuyt.wordpress.com. Life Strategies specializes in training for career practitioners. For information on the Look Before You Leap project and its tools, visit their website at www.lifestrategies.ca.
Career Pathways for
Refugee Youth A Model for Academic Success, Reduced Criminal Behaviour and Better Integration into Canadian Society — by Bertha Mo
Refugee youth face not only the normal upheavals of adolescence, but also deal with pre-migration trauma, including war and other types of violence, family dislocation and lack of consistent education. In addition, newcomer youth may be re-victimized and susceptible to racial discrimination, bullying and sexual harassment upon their arrival in Canada. Isolated, poorly integrated youth often drop out of school and become prey to local gang recruitment. Rather than a therapy group which might have seemed strange and even stigmatizing to the youth, the Counselling Program at the Ottawa Community Immigration Services Organization (OCISO) developed supportive groups for refugee youth called, Career Pathways. This is a series of eight 14-week, one-hour, school-based workshops which simulate a Canadian workplace to help youth to learn through modelling, acceptable behaviours and life skills. The youth are selected by school staff, including teachers, counsellors and administrators, aided by Multi-cultural Liaison Officers (MLO) who also work with our parent organization, OCISO. Before joining the group, youth are screened by either a Certified Clinical Counsellor or a Registered Social Worker and a graduate student from either of those professional groups. This program, which is still evolving, began in 2009 and has served approximately 350 refugee youth, between the ages of 14–19. Results include improved behaviour and attendance at school and increased access to part-time jobs. With additional funding, we hope to track longer-term results such as graduation from high school and entrance into higher education or the job market.
Demographics of Newcomer Youth in Canada Between 1999 and 2008, the number of newcomer youth between the ages of 15– 24 settling in Canada has increased from 28,125 to 37,425 (24.9% increase). Every year, an average of 35,000 immigrant and refugee youth between the ages of 15–24 settle in Canada (15% of newcomers). The majority (79.8%) are from racialized “visible minority” backgrounds. Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver have the largest numbers of refugee youth. Ottawa is the second largest recipient of immigrants in Ontario after Toronto and the GTA, and is possibly the second largest recipient of secondary migration, mostly from Quebec (Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 2006). The Career Pathways Model In a supportive, school-based setting, which emulates a very realistic work setting, two facilitators act as career coaches. Youth develop self-awareness through the use of assessment tools to identify personality traits, values, interests, skills and abilities as well as develop and practice leadership and conflict mediation skills. Resume preparation, job search techniques, identifying volunteer or paid opportunities, and examining options for post-secondary education are some of the professional skills they acquire. Ottawa police officers come to discuss the concept of choices and the consequences of poor choices with the youth. During the first session, the group establishes the rules and the sanctions governing their workplace. They learn leadership skills as they take turns acting as the timekeeper, group assembler, punctuality specialist and archivist/group photographer.
In a safe and supportive environment, the students are able to discover their strengths and weaknesses. These discussions help them to explore and plan a suitable career path. They are able to identify employment options as well as learn job search skills and techniques. A very important part of the group is learning appropriate, responsive behaviours. This raises their awareness of professional conduct in a Canadian workplace as well as in school. Career Pathways is funded by the United Way of Ottawa, Juniper Network Foundation, and the Ontario Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services.
Bertha Mo, Manager of the Counselling Program at Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization (OCISO), has resided in Ottawa for 20 years. A native San Franciscan, she has a Ph.D. in medical anthropology and a MPH in community health education, both from the University of California at Berkeley.
Check The Bulletin online for exclusive web-only content, including a new article on Challenges Facing University Career Centres in Effectively Preparing Students for Medical School Multi-Mini Interviews. contactpoint.ca 19
The Forces and Shifts at Work:
What’s the “So What” for You? — by Donald Smith
Introducing Career
Centre Evaluation: A Practitioner Guide — by Cathy Keates
Every time we round a corner on the future of work, the changes in the road come up to meet us faster and faster. The curves get steeper and our need to adapt gets more critical. What are the shifts required for success for career practitioners, for individuals and for organizations? Imagine the convergence of forces at work in the rapidly shrinking distance between now and 2025, and consider the many service and attitude changes required of the career practitioner: >>
Activating global talent in the rapidity of economic bursts and crashes
>>
Contending with changes in demography and increased longevity
>>
Shifting dynamics of social relationships, and attitudes to life and work
>>
Emerging social technologies and cloud computing
>>
Continuing stress on energy resources for sustainable business and services
On October 26, 2011 the Association of Career Professionals International (Toronto Network) assembled a sterling panel of career and work experts to consider these issues under the leadership of moderator Betty Carr of Metroland Media Group Ltd. (Toronto Community News). Panel members included: Sandra Boyd, Principal, Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions
Evaluation is a hot topic at university career centres. At the end of 2011, a new resource was launched to help career centres improve and expand their evaluation activities. Career Centre Evaluation: A Practitioner Guide (www.ceric. ca/careercentreevaluation) is a customized online resource to help university career centres think about and design effective evaluation strategies. This resource provides a look at how five different career centres have tried to understand the components of evaluation and how they developed tools to use in their settings. The guide provides: >>
An introduction to a framework for evaluation
>>
Example tools that you can adapt to your own setting
>>
Case studies of evaluation activities at other career centres
This project was created through a partnership between CERIC and a working group of the career centre leaders at the University of Toronto, Trent University, the University of Waterloo, the University of Western Ontario, and the University of Windsor. Many thanks to the career centre staff, managers and directors who inputted ideas and comments, and those who reviewed drafts.
Cathy Keates was the Project Co-ordinator for the creation of this CERIC-supported guide. Cathy has worked for over a decade with university career centres and has recently joined Queen’s University as the Director, Career Services.
Gena Griffin, District President, Robert Half International, GTA District Riz Ibrahim, Vice-President & General Manager, Canadian Education and Research Institute for Counselling (CERIC) Cathy Tait, Principal, Western Management Consultants Mark Venning, Founder of Change Rangers.com and Vice-Chair of CERIC Read snapshot contributions from the panellists as well as the highlights from the small group discussions at www.contactpoint.ca.
Donald Smith, CMF, is the Board Secretary for ACP International – Toronto Network. Learn more about the association at www.acpinternational.org. 20 The Bulletin
Cathy Keates and other members of the project team will be presenting at Cannexus12. Participate in their session January 24, 2012 at 10:00 AM.
POSiTiVe PSYCHOLOGY FOr CAreer PrACTiTiONerS iNNOVATiVe NeW WebiNAr SerieS
SerieS #2 4 Webinars in total, 75 minutes each, once a week Week 1: Week 2: Week 3: Week 4:
Building Self-Efficacy: Techniques and Tools Raising Optimism – Theory and Method The Science of Strengths Part 2: StrengthsFinder Cultivating Resilience and Final Wrap Up DATe: Time: COST:
Wed., Feb. 15, 22, 29 and March 7, 2012 12 noon – 1:15 pm ET $249/per person for the entire series of 4 webinars
Series #1 is available for purchase as an archived webinar with accompanying workbook for $199. SPECIAL Cannexus12 offer - Buy a DVD of Series #1, including workbook, for only $149! Available at the CERIC booth.
You’ve heard of positive psychology, but how do you actually incorporate it into your practice and apply it to help your clients flourish? Positive psychology is the scientific study of the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive. It is a natural fit for career practitioners because it offers so many ways to improve the well-being, success and happiness of your clients. Join us for this webinar series taught by two leaders in applied positive psychology, Louisa Jewell, MAPP and Shannon Polly, MAPP.
This interactive series is recommended both for those new to positive psychology and experts. You will learn how to help your clients: • Increase psychological resilience • Reduce stress and anxiety • Increase positive energy • Learn healthier thought processes • Improve psychological well-being and happiness
PrOuDLY PreSeNTeD bY: Certificate of Completion, ICF, VRA and ICCI credits will be issued for those completing both series of webinars. Sign up multiple staff and save! Contact us to learn more about our great Team Rates.
To register and learn more about this series of workshops, go to: www.positivematters.com/pmceric.asp or contact Louisa Jewell at louisa@positivematters.com or 416.481.8930
Project Partnership Funding Available CERIC is currently accepting partnership proposals to develop innovative resources for counselling and career development. CERIC’s Practical and Academic Research Committee has identified as priority areas: • Career Practitioning with Social Impact • Early Intervention • Evaluation • Intersection of Diversity and Work CERIC’s Ongoing Learning and Professional Development Committee has identified as priority areas:
ceric.ca
18 Spadina Road, Suite 200, Toronto, ON MSR 257 | 416.929.2510 Charitable Registration Number 86093 7911 RR0001
• New Emerging Career Development Theories and Career Management Models • The Impact of Social Media on How Career Practitioners Are Doing Their Work • Entrepreneurial Education and Career Development For more information or to download a letter of intent application, visit ceric.ca.
Upcoming Events Cannexus12 JANUARY 23 – 25, 2012 Ottawa, ON, CANADA www.cannexus.ca
Careers Conference 2012 JANUARY 30 – FEBRUARY 1, 2012 Madison, Wisconsin, USA www.cew.wisc.edu/careersConf
The Alberta Association of Services for Children and Families Conference (4th Annual) JANUARY 26 – 27, 2012 Edmonton, AB, CANADA www.aascf.com
Summit on the Mature Workforce FEBRUARY 6 – 8, 2012 Calgary, AB, Canada www.workplaceinstitute.org
Positive Psychology for Career Practitioners Webinars: Series #2 February 15 – March 7, 2012 Weekly Webinars www.positivematters.com/pmceric.asp
Public Sector HR 2012: The Changing Public Sector Workplace February 27 – 28, 2012 Ottawa, ON, CANADA www.conferenceboard.ca
Motivational Interviewing & Stages of Change Webinars FEBRUARY 27 – 28, 2012 (Intro) APRIL 2 – MAY 14, 2012 (Level 1, Weekly) www.empoweringchange.ca
Career Development Conference (CDC) & Internationally Trained Professionals (ITP) Conference MARCH 5 – 6, 2012 Vancouver, BC, CANADA www.bccda.org
Career Development Conference (12th Annual) MARCH 18 – 22, 2012 Dubai, UAE www.iirme.com/careerdevelopment
International Symposium on Education and Psychology (ISEP 2012) MARCH 30 – APRIL 1, 2012 Hong Kong, CHINA www.e-case.org/ISEP2012
For an extensive listing of online training opportunities, visit the Event section of contactpoint.ca.
22 The Bulletin
RESOURCES & PROjECTS RESSOURCES & PROjETS
CERIC (Canadian Education and
Le CERIC est un organisme
Research Institute for Counselling) is
caritatif voué à la progression de
a charitable organization that advances
l’éducation et de la recherche en
education and research in career
matière d’orientation professionnelle
counselling and career development.
et de développement de carrière.
CERIC funds both research as well as learning and professional development projects that advance the body of knowledge in career counselling and career development in Canada. For more information about our current funding priorities and project partnership details, please visit ceric.ca.
Le CERIC finance à la fois des projets de recherche et des projets pédagogiques et de développement professionnel qui promeuvent l’ensemble des connaissances dans le domaine de l’orientation professionnelle et de Ia formation continue au Canada. Pour de plus amples renseignements sur nos priorités de financement et nos partenariats de projets, visitez le site ceric.ca.
Canada’s bilingual National Career Development Conference promoting the exchange of information and innovative approaches for career development and counselling. Ottawa, January 28 - 30, 2013.
Cannexus est un congrès national bilingue favorisant l’échange d’informations et d’initiatives novatrices dans le domaine de l’orientation et du développement de carrière. Ottawa, du 28 au 30 janvier 2013.
ContactPoint is a Canadian online community program providing career resources, learning and networking for practitioners.
OrientAction est un programme communautaire canadien en ligne destiné aux praticiens(iennes), qui fournit des ressources sur le développement professionnel, l’acquisition de connaissances et le réseautage.
The CJCD is a peer-reviewed publication of career-related academic research and best practices. cjcdonline.ca.
Guide d’évaluation en orientation In partnership with / en partenariat avec l’Ordre des conseillers et conseillères d’orientation du Québec (OCCOQ)
INITIATIVES • LES PROJETS Project Partnerships Partenariats de projets
Assessment Guide for Career and Guidance Counselling
La RCDC est une publication qui porte sur Ia recherche universitaire et les meilleures pratiques évaluées par des spécialistes du secteur. rcdcenligne.ca.
Career Centre Evaluation: A Practitioner’s Guide Évaluation des centres de carrières : Le guide du praticien In partnership with / en partenariat avec University Career Centre Metrics Working Group Groupe de travail sur les mesures de performance du centre de carrière universitaire
Look Before You Leap: Self-Employment Survival Strategies Regardez avant de faire le grand saut : Stratégies de survie pour les entrepreneurs In partnership with / en partenariat avec Life Strategies Ltd.
NEW RESEARCH NOUVELLE ÉTUDE Graduate Students Étudiants aux cycles supérieurs
Graduate Student Engagement Program and Graduate Student Award. For information, visit ceric.ca.
Programme de mobilisation des étudiants(es) aux cycles supérieurs et Prix des études supérieures. Pour obtenir plus d’informations, veuillez visiter ceric.ca.
ceric.ca 18 Spadina Road, Suite 200, Toronto, ON MSR 257 | 416.929.2510 Charitable Registration Number I Numéro d’enregistrement d’organisme caritatif 86093 7911 RR0001
CERIC Survey of Career Service Professionals Sondage des spécialistes de l’orientation professionnelle du CERIC Download full report at ceric.ca Téléchargez le rapport complet à ceric.ca
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WHAT’S NEW Be Where Your Peers Will Be—At Cannexus12! Canada’s sixth Cannexus conference is about to get underway in Ottawa. Cannexus continues to offer delegates relevant and robust programming. Cannexus12 is no different. Taking place from January 23 – 25 and attracting close to 700 delegates from across the country, the networking component alone is well worth the price of admission. But that is just the beginning! With three world-class keynotes, 100 concurrent sessions and an Exhibitor Showcase, Cannexus is your chance to stay current in the career development field and focus on your own professional development! This issue of The Bulletin gives you a flavour for some of the outstanding presenters you’ll encounter at Cannexus12, including Mark Savickas, Roxanne Sawatzky and Cathy Keates. Visit www.cannexus.ca for more details and to register.
New Study to Look at How Youth Develop Their Career Interests A new research project funded by CERIC will help to determine the factors that affect
the development of career interests among adolescents and young adults, especially those deemed to be “at-risk”. The project will identify the family, social and environmental factors that influence how children regard future careers and post-secondary education. Research is being undertaken in partnership with the University of Manitoba, University of Winnipeg and Career Trek Inc. Results of the study, Career Exploration: An Application of Social Cognitive Career Theory with At-Risk Adolescents and Young Adults, are expected to be available in 2013. Visit the Projects page at www.ceric.ca to learn more.
Watch for Results of CERIC’s Survey of Career Service Professionals CERIC is pleased to announce that findings from its Survey of Career Service Professionals will be presented at the Cannexus12 conference in Ottawa. Over 1,000 members of the career service professional community completed the survey. Please join us at the Cannexus Connections Luncheon on January 24, 2012 as Mario Gravelle, Learning and Innovation Analyst at The Counselling Foundation of Canada, offers an overview of the findings, including demographics of the field, research and professional development issues as well as career competency and mobility.
CERIC looks forward to sharing other findings from this research via The Bulletin, ContactPoint and OrientAction throughout 2012!
Updated Literature Searches Available Are you working on a project or doing research? Then be sure to check out CERIC’s recently updated and expanded Literature Searches on various topics: >> Career Development Theory and Career Management Models >> Career Practitioning with Social Impact >> Early Intervention Career Development for Children >> Evaluation of Career Services >> Generational Conflict in the Workplace >> Impact of Career Development >> Impact of Social Media on Career Counselling >> Learning Disabilities in the Workplace >> Mental Health Issues in the Workplace >> Women in Non-Traditional Careers Visit www.ceric.ca and click on Funding.
contactpoint.ca We’d like to hear from you! Submit an article, or send your comments and suggestions to: contactpoint@ceric.ca. ContactPoint is a multi-sector online community for professionals in the career development field dedicated to providing interactive dialogue, networking, resources and learning to advance the profession.
ContactPoint is a program of CERIC funded through a grant by the Counselling Foundation of Canada.
18 Spadina Road, Suite 200, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5R 2S7 T 416.929.2510 ext.34 F 416.923.2536 www.contactpoint.ca We reserve the right to edit all submissions. See contactpoint.ca for submission guidelines. Views expressed by Bulletin contributors are not necessarily those of CERIC. Mention of programs, services, products and initiatives is not an endorsement of these items.